UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

The case almost ended abruptly when a judge dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims in August 2017, asserting that the matter was outside the court’s purview. But the appeals court found that not all the issues at stake were political and beyond the court’s jurisdiction. Its ruling came down to two pivotal questions: whether the court would have to determine who held sovereignty over the territory in question, and whether the judges were empowered to hear claims of genocide allegedly committed by Israeli settlers funded by the defendants.

The ruling raises the prospect whether a U.S. court has to determine Israeli settlers committed war crimes and whether those targeted in the suit are financially liable. U.S. Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson said in her decision that the sovereignty issue was separate from a broader question of whether war crimes, including genocide, were being committed there.

“A legal determination that Israeli settlers commit genocide in the disputed territory would not decide ownership of the disputed territory and thus would not directly contradict any foreign policy choice,” Henderson said in a ruling joined by U.S. Circuit judges Nina Pillard and Harry Edwards.

An Israeli military court ruled today to keep 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi and her mother Nariman in prison until the end of their trial. Ahed, a well-known Palestinian activist was detained a month ago after a video was published online of Ahed slapping and hitting two Israeli soldiers, yelling at them to leave her family’s property.

The Tamimi family from Nabi Saleh are well known activists who have led non-violent protests against the illegal Israeli military occupation for nearly a decade. Ahed’s father Bassem was previously arrested nine times and spent four years in prison where he was tortured. He spent 14 months in jail simply waiting for a trial, which was repeatedly postponed. Bassem told Mondoweiss that he won’t be surprised if the same happens to Ahed and Nariman with the goal of detaining them for as long as possible.

“I expect the worst from the occupation,” Bassem told Mondoweiss.

“Honestly, we can’t expect anything else from the court; the court is a component of this occupation. It’s used by the legal system to punish the Palestinians.”

“They target all Palestinians… they want to show the world that, ‘We just punish those who resist.’ That’s not true. They punish all Palestinians because they’re Palestinians and they exist. This is a genocide since 1948,” Bassem said.